Celebrities condemn violent white supremacist rally in Virginia

13 August 2017

Newsdesk

Share with:

Hollywood stars have come out to condemn the violent Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Neo-nazis descended into the city on Friday (11Aug17) night to protest the removal of a statue representing Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who served the pro-slavery South of the country during the U.S. Civil War until surrendering in 1865 when the pro-emancipation North won the battle.

The gathering bled into Saturday (12Aug17) and quickly escalated into brutality when white nationalists began to fight with counter-protestors, causing Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency.

The violence got even worse on Saturday afternoon when a car plowed into a group of anti-racist protestors, leaving one person dead and causing several injuries, and celebrities have had enough.

"the news makes me sick and so do racists in suits who dance around the fact that NAZIS are parading thru the streets in broad daylight (sic)," Hayley Williams of rock band Paramore wrote on Twitter.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is notorious for his rampant tweets, was noticeably silent until he finally took to Twitter on Saturday to condemn the Unite the Right rally.

"We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets (sic) come together as one!," the 45th American president wrote in the afternoon, before receiving criticism for seemingly supporting racists in a later statement by saying the violence at the rally was provoked "on many sides".

Some stars are incensed by how Trump, who controversially refused to rebuke the endorsement of Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke during his run for the presidency in 2015, reacted to the event, with British author J.K. Rowling calling him out for his tardy response to the important matter.

"Hell of a day for the President to forget how to tweet," the Harry Potter writer tweeted in a picture attached to two white supremacists holding swastika flags at the violent gathering.

Singer John Legend also called out the weak response from the White House: "We have nazi sympathizers and white nationalists in the White House. Condemn them too. They should not be receiving taxpayer money," he wrote on Twitter.

Other celebrities, such as Seth Rogen, Mark Ronson, Questlove, Estelle and Ava DuVernay also took to the micro-blogging site to slam the racist protest.